| Old Sarum | |
|---|---|
 Aerial view of Old Sarum | |
  Old Sarum Location withinWiltshire | |
| Civil parish | |
| Unitary authority | |
| Ceremonial county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| 51°05′36″N01°48′17″W / 51.09333°N 1.80472°W /51.09333; -1.80472 | |
Old Sarum, inWiltshire,South West England, is the ruined and deserted site of the earliest settlement ofSalisbury. Situated on a hill about two miles (three kilometres) north of modern Salisbury near theA345 road, the settlement appears in some of the earliest records in the country. It is anEnglish Heritage property and is open to the public.
The greatstone circles ofStonehenge andAvebury were erected nearby and indications ofprehistoric settlement have been discovered from as early as 3000 BC. AnIron Agehillfort was erected around 400 BC, controlling the intersection of two trade paths and theHampshireAvon. The site continued to be occupied during theRoman period, when the paths were made intoroads. TheSaxons took theBritish fort in the 6th century and later used it as a stronghold againstmarauding Vikings. TheNormans constructed amotte and bailey castle, a stone curtain wall, and agreat cathedral. A royal palace was built withinOld Sarum Castle forKingHenry I and was subsequently used byPlantagenet monarchs. This heyday of the settlement lasted for around 300 years until disputes between theSheriff of Wiltshire and theBishop of Salisbury finally led to the removal of the church into thenearby plain. AsNew Salisbury grew up around the construction site for thenew cathedral in the early 13th century, the buildings of Old Sarum were dismantled for stone and the old town dwindled. Its long-neglected castle was abandoned byEdward II in 1322 and sold byHenry VIII in 1514.Edward Rutherfurd's 1987 novelSarum traces the history of the town.
Although the settlement was effectively uninhabited, its landowners continued to haveparliamentary representation into the 19th century, making it one of the most notorious of therotten boroughs that existed before theReform Act 1832. Old Sarum served as apocket borough of thePitt family.
Old Sarum is also the name of a modern settlement north-east of the monument, where there is a grass strip airfield and a small business park, and large 21st-century housing developments.
The present name seems to be aghost word orcorruption of themedieval Latin andNorman forms of the name Salisbury, such as the Sarisburie that appeared in theDomesday Book of 1086.[1] (These were adaptions of the earlier names Searoburh,[2] Searobyrig,[3] and Searesbyrig,[4][5][6]calques of the indigenousBrittonic name with theOld Englishsuffixes-burh and-byrig, denoting fortresses or their adjacent settlements.) The longer name was first abbreviated asSar̅, but, as such a mark wasused to contract the Latin suffix-um (common in placenames), the name was confused and became Sarum sometime around the 13th century. The earliest known use was on the seal of theSt Nicholas hospital atNew Salisbury, which was in use in 1239. The 14th-centuryBishop Wyvil was the first to describe himself asepiscopus Sarum.[7]
The addition of 'old' to the name distinguished it from Sarum orNew Sarum, names used in some contexts for the newer settlement.[7][8][9]
There is evidence that early hunters and, later, farming communities occupied the site. A protectivehill fort, namedSorviodunum, was constructed by the local inhabitants around 400 BC[10] during theIron Age by creating enormous banks and ditches surrounding the hill. The hillfort is broadly oval shaped, measuring 400 m (1,300 ft) in length and 360 m (1,180 ft) in width. It consists of a double bank and intermediate ditch with an entrance on the eastern side.
Numerous other hillforts of the same period can be found locally, includingFigsbury Ring to the east andVespasian's Camp to the north. ThearchaeologistSir R. C. Hoare described it as "a city of high note in the remotest periods by the severalbarrows near it, and its proximity to the two largeststone circles in England, namely,Stonehenge andAvebury."[a]
At the time of theRoman conquest of Britain in the 1st century, the area of Old Sarum seems to have formed part of the territory of theAtrebates,[11] aBritishtribe apparently ruled byGaulish exiles. Although the dynasty's founderCommius had become a foe ofCaesar's, his sons submitted toAugustus asclient kings. Their realm became known as theRegni and the overthrow of one of them,Verica, was thecasus belli used to justify theEmperorClaudius's invasion. The settlement appeared in theWelshChronicle of the Britons asCaer-Caradog[12]: 135 or Gradawc (Old Welsh:kaer gradaỽc[13]) and as Caer-Wallawg.[12]: 150–151 Bishop Ussher argued for its identification with the"Cair Caratauc"[14] listed among the28 cities of Britain by theHistory of the Britons traditionally ascribed toNennius.[15]
Cynric,king ofWessex, captured the hill in 552.[3] It remained part of Wessex thereafter[16]: 1 but, preferring settlements in bottomland like nearbyWilton,[2] the Saxons largely ignored Old Sarum[17] until theViking invasions ledKingAlfred to restore its fortifications.[2] In the early part of the 9th century, it was a frequent residence ofEgbert of Wessex and, in 960,KingEdgar assembled a national council there to plan a defence against theDanes in the north.[18][16]: 1 Along withWilton, it was abandoned by its residents to be sacked and burned by theDano-Norwegian kingSweyn Forkbeard in 1003.[19] It subsequently became the site ofWilton'smint.[2]
Amotte-and-bailey castle was built by 1069, three years after theNorman conquest.[2] The castle was held directly by the Norman kings; itscastellan was generally also thesheriff of Wiltshire. In 1075, theCouncil of London establishedHerman as the firstbishop of Salisbury (Seriberiensis episcopus),[20] uniting his former sees ofSherborne andRamsbury into asingle diocese which covered thecounties ofDorset,Wiltshire, andBerkshire. He andSaint Osmund began the construction of thefirst Salisbury cathedral but neither lived to see its completion in 1092.[20] Osmund was a cousin ofWilliam the Conqueror[21] andLord Chancellor ofEngland; he was responsible for the codification of theSarum Rite,[22] the compilation of theDomesday Book, and—after centuries of advocacy from Salisbury's bishops—was finally canonized byPopeCallixtus III in 1457.[23]
TheDomesday Book was probably presented toWilliam I at Old Sarum in 1086,[2] the same year he convened theprelates,nobles,sheriffs, andknights of his dominions there to pay himhomage[24] by theOath of Salisbury. Two other national councils were held there: one byWilliam Rufus in 1096[16]: 2 and another byHenry I in 1116, which has sometimes been described as the firstEnglish Parliament.[16]: 2 William Rufus confirmed its bishop in various additional sources of income, which were later confirmed byHenry II.[16]: 1
Thecathedral wasconsecrated on 5 April 1092 but suffered extensive damage in a storm, traditionally said to have occurred only five days later.[25][26]Bishop Roger was a close ally ofHenry I who served as his viceroy during the king's absence toNormandy[27] and directed theroyal administration andexchequer along with his extended family.[28] He refurbished and expanded Old Sarum's cathedral in the 1110s.[27] This work ultimately doubled the cathedral's length and involved the large-scale levelling of the ecclesiastical district in the northwest quadrant of the town.[29] He began work on a royal palace during the 1130s, prior to his arrest by Henry's successorStephen.[27] This palace was long thought to have been the small structure whose ruins are located in the small central bailey; it may, however, have been the large palacerecently discovered in the southeast quadrant of the outer bailey.[30] This palace was 170 m × 65 m (560 ft × 210 ft), surrounded a large central courtyard, and had walls up to 3 m (10 ft) thick. A 60-metre-long (200 ft) room was probably agreat hall and there seems to have been a large tower.[30] At the time of Roger's arrest byKing Stephen, the bishop administered the castle on the king's behalf;[16]: 2 it was thereafter allowed to fall into disrepair but the sheriff and castellan continued to administer the area under the king's authority.[31]
Medieval Sarum also seems to have had industrial facilities such as kilns and furnaces.[10] Residential areas were principally located in the two southern quadrants, built up beside the ditch protecting the inner bailey and Norman castle.[17]Henry II held his wife,Eleanor of Aquitaine, prisoner at Old Sarum. In the 1190s, the plain[clarification needed] between Old Sarum andWilton was one of five specially designated byRichard I for the holding of Englishtournaments.[32]
An early 12th-century observer,William of Malmesbury, called Sarum a town "more like a castle than city, being environed with a high wall", and noted that "notwithstanding that it was very well accommodated with all other conveniences, yet such was the want for water that it sold at a great rate".[16]: 1 Holinshed denied this and noted that the hill was "very plentifully served with springs and wells of very sweet water";[16]: 2 excavation has discovered numerous wells (including one within the Norman keep) but suggests that they were so deep as to make their use more cumbersome than carting water uphill from the rivers. The issue was presented to kingsRichard andJohn as the prime reason to relocate thecathedral[16]: 2 but seems to have only been part of the issue.
The late 12th-century canonPeter of Blois[33] described his prebendary as "barren, dry, and solitary, exposed to the rage of the wind" and the cathedral "as a captive on the hill where it was built, like theark of God shut up in the profane house ofBaal."[34] Holinshed records that the clerics brawled openly with the garrison troops.[16]: 2 Bishop Herbert received permission for the move fromRichard I, who was agreeably disposed towards the diocese after discovering it held£90 000 incoin in trust for his father, in addition to jewels, vestments, andplate,[16]: 3 but was forced to delay the change after John's succession.
Bypapal order, Herbert's brotherRichard Poore wastranslated fromChichester to succeed him in 1217; the next year, Sarum'sdean andchapter presented arguments toRome for the cathedral's relocation.[16]: 3 The investigation of these claims by thepapal legateCardinal Gualo verified the chapter's claims that the site's water was both expensive and sometimes restricted by the castellans; that housing within the walls was insufficient for the clerics, who were required to rent from the laity; that the wind was sometimes so strong that divine offices could not be heard and the roof was repeatedly damaged; and that the soldiers of the royal fortress restricted access to the cathedral precinct to the common folk duringAsh Wednesday and on other occasions for providing theEucharist and the clerics felt imperilled by their circumstances.[16]: 4 Pope Honorius III thereupon issued an indulgence to relocate the cathedral on 29 March 1217 or 1218.[16]: 4 The chapter voted unanimously for the move and agreed to pay for it by withholding various portions of theirprebends over the next seven years.[16]: 4 OnEaster Monday, 1219, a wooden chapel dedicated to theVirgin Mary was begun near the banks of theHampshireAvon; onTrinity Sunday, Bishop Poore celebrated mass there andconsecrated acemetery.[16]: 4 OnSt Vitalis's Day, April 28, 1220, the foundation of the future stone cathedral was begun.[16]: 5
The settlement that grew up around it was called New Salisbury, then (at least formally) New Sarum, then finallySalisbury. The former cathedral was formally dissolved in 1226.[29] The inhabitants of the new city gradually razed the old, constructingSalisbury Cathedral and other buildings from the materials at Old Sarum. Evidence of quarrying into the 14th century shows some continued habitation,[17] but the settlement was largely abandoned andEdward II ordered the castle's demolition in 1322.[29]
The castle grounds were sold byHenry VIII in 1514.[10] From the reign ofEdward II in the 14th century, theborough of Old Sarum elected twoMembers of Parliament to theHouse of Commons despite having, from at least the 17th century, no resident voters. One of the members in the 18th century wasWilliam Pitt the Elder. In 1831, Old Sarum had eleven voters, all of whom were landowners who lived elsewhere, making Old Sarum the most notorious of therotten boroughs. TheReform Act 1832 subsumed the Old Sarum area into an enlargedborough of Wilton. The fortified site[35] was anextra-parochial area[36] and became acivil parish in 1858, but the civil parish was abolished in 1894[37] and merged withStratford sub Castle.[38] In 1891 the parish had a population of 13.[39] The site and surrounding area is now the northernmost part of Salisbury civil parish.[40]
The site of the castle and cathedral is considered a highly important British monument: it was among the 26 English locationsscheduled by the 1882Ancient Monuments Protection Act,[41] the first such British legislation. That protection has subsequently continued, expanding to include some suburban areas west and south-east of the outer bailey.[29] It was alsolisted as aGrade I site in 1972.[42]
Between 1909 and 1915,W.H. St J. Hope,W. Hawley, andD.H. Montgomerie excavated the site for theSociety of Antiquaries of London.[29] A second excavation occurred in the 1950s under John W. G. Musty andPhilip Rahtz.[29]
In 2014, an on-sitegeophysical survey of the inner and outer bailey by theUniversity of Southampton revealed its royal palace,[30] as well as the street plan of the medieval city.[10][17] The survey made use ofsoil resistivity toelectric current,electrical resistivity tomography,magnetometry, andground-penetrating radar.[10][17] The team planned to return in 2015 to complete a similar survey of theRomano-British site to the south of the hillfort.[17]
The Old Sarum monument is now administered byEnglish Heritage, and non-members are charged for admission.[43] A paved carpark and grass overflow carpark are provided in the eastern area of the outer bailey.
In 1917, duringWorld War I, farmland about 1 mile (1.6 km) north-east of Old Sarum, along thePortway, was developed as the 'Ford Farm'aerodrome. That becameOld Sarum Airfield, which remained in operation with a single grass runway until at least 2019[44] with a small business park which developed along the north edge of the airfield. As of January 2023 the airfield is still operational, but only by prior arrangement.[45]
Around 800 homes were built on the north side of the Portway between 2008 and 2016,[46] and this area (which includes Old Sarum Primary School)[47] is also called Old Sarum. From 2018, further housing called Longhedge Village, around 750 homes accessed from theA345, was built immediately north of the earlier development.[46][48] These areas all fall withinLaverstock civil parish, while the monument itself – separated from modern development by about 0.6 miles (1 km) of farmland – is within theSalisbury City area.[40]
SUBTITLE: Translated from the Welsh Copy Attributed to Tysilio; Collated with Several Other Copies, and Illustrated with Copious Notes; to Which Are Added, Original Dissertations.
Trioedd Ynys Prydain, Cas Bethau, Enwau ac Anrhyfeddodau Ynys Prydain
SUBTITLE With the Chapels, Monuments, Grave-Stones, and their Inscriptions. To which is prefixed, an Account of Old Sarum
